Hussain Imam
| Published: October 07, 2023 21:21:14
According to the latest World Population Review, 22.4 million people live in the metropolitan area of the Dhaka city. The city’s population has increased from 4.4 million in 1980 to 22.4 million in 2022. With 23,234 people living in per square kilometer area of the city, it is currently the sixth most populous city in the world. No wonder, it is called a megacity, at least by population density.
The magnitude, or should the scribe says the catastrophe, of the city’s population density can probably be best explained if the scribe dares make a comparison with some other country or city. Let’s take the case of New Zealand as an example. The country has a population of about 5.2 million living in a total land area of 268,000 sq. kilometers.
If we talk about Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand, the second largest urban area of New Zealand, only 180,000 people live in this city whereas the city of Dhaka alone has a population of 22.4 million which is roughly 125 times higher than that of the Wellington city and 4.3 times higher than the entire population of New Zealand.
The above mentioned statistics may be considered as a preamble to the main topic of my discussion–the traffic jam of Dhaka city; because the rapid growth of population and with that a significant rise in the number of vehicles on the road coupled with inadequate road infrastructure is believed to be the main reason, if not the only reason, for traffic congestion.
Traffic congestion is, in all sense, a bizarre scenario for the Dhaka residents. More than 700,000 motorised vehicles like buses, trucks, jeep, pick-ups, auto-rickshaws (CNG), motorbikes and private cars are said to be plying the city roads everyday along with almost equal number of manually driven non motorised vehicles such as rickshaws, vans, pushcarts, cycles, etc. All these motorised and non motorised vehicles of varying size, category and speed plying the streets at the same time make out a highly complex situation too difficult for anybody to deal with.
The city is reported to have only about 7 per cent of its area for traffic whereas as per standard bench mark it should have been 25 per cent. The result is the massive traffic congestion that has kept the entire population of the city at a standstill. If you have to go out for a job or to keep an appointment, you cannot be sure when you should come out of the house and resume your journey. It may take hours for you to make the distance of even say 5-10 kilometers. According to a recent study, the traffic congestion of Dhaka city eats up around 8 million working hours every day costing over US$ 18 billion every year.
As per World Bank report released some time in 2019, in the last 10 years the average traffic speed in Dhaka has dropped from 21 km ph to 7 km ph and by 2035 it may drop to 4 km ph which is less than walking distance. The situation, as it is now, is not far from what was forecast by the World Bank four years ago. Dhaka is now the slowest city in the world.
A sweet advice for the Dhaka residents, especially the youngsters, would be, ‘You had better choose your strong and stout legs to walk to your destination instead of waiting for hours sitting on the bus or in a car panicking all the time whether you will be able to make it or not.’
The problem is; how will you walk even if you choose to? Is there any proper walkway? Most of the roads, especially the narrower ones, are without any walkways or footpaths, as we usually call them. And those having footpaths, can you be sure that you can walk on them without the risk of being stumbled down because of numerous pot holes, damaged brick soiling or vendor’s garbage? Most of these dilapidated footpaths, often occupied by unauthorised vendors or makeshift tea-stalls, have been left unattended for days, even years, as if to ensure that you dare not use them.
We were told that once the flyovers were built, metro rails and elevated expressways were put into service, the traffic congestion of Dhaka city would be gone. Well, several flyovers have been built across the city, and the much talked about Metro Rail and Elevated Expressway have been, at least partly, put into operation; but has there been any sign of easing out the traffic congestion? Apparently it has not. When the Mayor Mohammad Hanif flyover was inaugurated, we were amazed to see Dhaka to Jatrabri drive taking hardly 10 minutes. Now it takes more than half an hour only to clear the exit point after payment of toll.
So, where does the remedy lie? The biggest problem of the city is its over-population compared to its size and poor road infrastructure. The only remedy probably lies in drastically reducing the population of Dhaka city. The city cannot, by any consideration, accommodate more than half of the population it has now. More flyovers, more metro rails, more elevated expressways and more rapid transit buses will not make much difference unless the chronic issue of overpopulation is addressed pragmatically.
Migration of people from rural areas to the capital city for education, medical treatment, employment and business has been a continuous one way traffic. One report suggests, more than half a million people migrate to the city every year. If the trend continues like this, by 2030, the metropolitan city’s population will be around 27 million.
It is high time to stem the tide. The policy makers, the think-tanks and the city planners ought to find ways to address the issue. Apart from dealing with the immediate requirements such as: better traffic management, installation of a synchronised signal system at the crossings, withdrawal of unfit buses, removal of non-motorised vehicles from the streets in phases and strict compliance of traffic rules, they have to initiate as long term measures such as: (a) decentralisation of the city administration, (b) expansion of the city area, (c) reduction of population density, (d) expansion of transportation infrastructure and most importantly (e) construction of underground metro rails.
The reasons for mass migration of rural people to the capital city are not unknown to our policy makers. If the rural people had equal opportunities for jobs and business, if they could get better medical facilities and education even at district level, why would they migrate to the capital city to live an uncertain and stressful life?
The government has to look into the real causes of traffic jam, some of which this scribe has tried to highlight here as a layman, and prepare a master plan with the help of local as well as foreign experts to address the issue in its true perspective.
Capt. Hussain Imam is a retired Merchant Mariner.
husainimam365@yahoo.com